1. The Field of the Invention
The present invention pertains to a temporary cold weather boot and in particular a boot which can serve as a temporary replacement for cold weather boots and/or sports shoes and yet be easily carried on one's person, when not in use, without burden to the wearer.
2. The Prior Art
All skiers know how important it is to have the proper boots in order to ski both successfully and safely. However, they also known what a problem it is to get about in these boots when they are not on skis. The normal ski boot is just not designed for comfortable or safe walking. Thus the skier is faced with the problem of what to wear while getting from the transport to the ski area, for example a car, to the ski slope, and what to do when making a temporary call within a ski lodge, etc. One solution to this problem would be to wear another pair of shoes while walking from the car to the lodge, but then there is the problem of what to do with these shoes while skiing. Another solution would be to walk bare footed or in stockinged feet. Obviously neither of these courses of action would be recommended as the ground would most likely be both cold and wet and therefore not the best conditioning for one's feet prior to a day's skiing. Also, floors within ski lodges are often wet from traffic making bare foot or stockinged foot walking inside the lodge undesirable.
It therefor appears that some sort of temporary boot which could be worn during these brief intervals and easily carried while skiing would be in order. However, the choices available from the prior art are not suitable. One could try the disposable slippers of the type used by surgeons, but these are not designed for out-of-doors wear or for walking any distance. They would likely come apart under cold and wet conditions and would not be expected to provide comfort from the cold nor slip or skid protection. Examples of these disposable slippers may be found in U.S. Pat. Nos. 3,442,034 and 3,422,550, the latter being designed as an overshoe or shoe cover. Even covering one's feet with plastic bags would not be solution as such bags are not designed for wear, would not protect from cold, would puncture easily and become slippery when wet. Examples of this type of approach to foot coverings may be found in U.S. Pat. Nos. 3,684,922 and 4,335,527. The former includes a coating of carbon black on the sole portion of the boot for grounding purposes. The latter is an overshoe unsuitable for wear without a shoe or in possibly slippery conditions. Temporary overshoes of different types of materials are represented by U.S. Pat. No. 1,644,217, which discloses a paper overshoe intended to provide cold weather protection but not distance walking, and U.S. Pat. No. 2,924,029, which discloses a plastic overshoe, particularly for high heeled shoes. Neither of these would be suitable as a shoe replacement for walking distances in cold and wet conditions.
The present invention overcomes the deficiencies of the prior art by providing a temporary cold weather boot which will protect the unshod foot, when worn, and yet will be easy to store and carry on one's person, when not in use.